op bochesteb



Nov. 2 1926. 1,605,842

J. G. JONES F ILM AS SEMBLING MACHINE Filed Nov. 1924 INVENTOR,

John G. Jones,

Patented Nov. 2, 1926..

UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

JOHN G. JONES, O1 ROCHESTER, NEW YORK, ASSIGNOB TO EASTMAN KODAK COM- PANY. OF ROCHESTER, NEW YORK, A CORPORATION OF NEW YORK.

FILM-ASSEMBLI'NG MACHINE.

Application filed November 24, 1924. Serial No. 751,952.

This invention relates to photography and more particularly to machines for handling long bands of photographic material, such as motion picture film. One object of my invention is to provide a machine to which a film band can be continuously fed and from which it may be intermittently drawn; another object is to provide a film take-up mechanism which will care for the film as it is fed into the machine while an attendant is performing an operation on the film band such as cutting, splicing, attaching to another reel or the like; another object is to provide a take-up mechanism normally having the minimum contact with the film band as the film band passes therethrough; another object is to provide a take-up mechanism normally out of contact with the film band; another object is to provide an automatic release for the take-up mechanism which functions when an operation 'is to be performed on the film band; another object is to provide a device for restoring the takeup to its inoperative position; and other objects will appear hereinafter from the following specification and will be pointed out in the claims at the end thereof.

In the drawings, wherein like reference characters denote like parts throughout:

Fig. 1 is a side elevation of a machine constructed in accordance with and illustrating one embodiment of my invention;

Fig. 2 is an enlarged fragmentary detail,

parit in section of a portion of the machine, an

Fig. 3 is an enlarged perspective view of the film clamp removed from the machine.

In laboratories where lengths-of motion picture film are fluid treated for developing, printing, tinting and toning or the like it requently is necessary to handle the film bands at considerable speed. It is common practice to use continuous machines for treating the film, that is, machines into and from which a film band steadily passes. To facilitate caring for the continually moving film band as it comes from such machines dry and in condition for assembling into standard lengths, I have provided a take-up mechanism which will be hereinafter described. This machine is applicable to a variety of film manufacturing or film treating machines and is applicable to films or bands of any width; and it will be described by way of illustration as being used in connection with a continuous machine from which the film is drawn in a dry condition for assembling upon standard reels.

In Fig. 1 the continuous machine C furn shes a film band F which passes out over roller 0: at a constant speed. My take-up mechanism comprises a base 1 supporting a bearing 2 carrying a shaft 3 to which is keyed a pulley 4 and an arm bracket 5 which carrles a support 6 upon which a plurality of arms 7 extend downwardly, these being ad ustable along the arm, being fastened at the desired locations by set screws 8. Each arm supports a roller 9'upon a stub shaft 10.

The end 11 of support 6 is adapted to lie on a resilient pad 12 carried by the bracket 13. This bracket carries a latch member 14 upon stud 15 operable by a handle 16 and normally held in an operative latching position by a spring 17. In this position the latch member 18 engages a flat portion 19 of support '6. I Pulley 4 is partially surrounded by a cable 20 to one end of which is attached a counterbalance weight 21 and having onthe oppo site end a foot treadle 22. The cable passes over idlers 23 and 2A to treadle 22 which moves upon guide rods 25 and 26. Weight 21 is just sufiicient. to move support 6 with its depending parts ,upwardly in the direction of the arrow A1 On the table top 27 there are a plurality of upwardly extending arms 28 spaced between arm 7 and carrying rollers 29 on studs 30. All the rollers 9. and 29 may bear on the film edges onlyif desired in the usual manner of motion picture film rollers.

Bracket 13 carries automatic film locking rollers 31 and 32; one being revolubly supported by shaft 33 fixed in bracket 13 and (Fig. 3) the other being carried by stub shaft 34 eccentrically mounted on gear 35 which is supported by shaft 36. Gear 35 meshes with gear 37 carried by the latch arm 14 and may be adjusted relative to the latch by screw 38 arid slot 39. Each time the latch arm handle 16 is depressed the gears rock stub shaft 34 causing rollers 31 and 32 to bind the film, locking it against movement. At all other times the rollers both turn freely, and guide the film through its path. When roller 32 and the eccentric roller 31 are brought together to hold the film, they are moved into binding engagement by the handle 16. The friction of this enga ement is suflicient to overcome the action or spring 17, which as above described, normally tends to hold the latch 18 in the path of movement of the fiat 19 of arm 6, so that the latch 18 W11]. e1ther hold the arm 6 in the'position shown in Fig. 1, or it will be. in a position in which it may be cammed back by the end of arm '6, and then sna into its latching position when the arm as been completely lowered.

This locking movement is timed (by screw 38 and slot 39) to take lace just as knife 40 severs the film on lock 41, and the movement of handle 16 releases latch 18 from flat 19 and the supporting arm will move upwardly drawing t e film band into a plurality of loops L as the film is fed over roller 0. In Fig, 1 the full and dashed line positions shown the two extremities of movement and the loops L are drawn out to the greatest possible extent. Very often the loop formed will only bring the film slightly out of the normal substantially straight path, and the term loop is herein used to designate any such deviation from the normal straight path. It should be noted that rollers 9 and 29 are normally out of contact with the film but contact therewith when support 6 moves as above described. Roller 29 always contacts with the film F.

The normal path of the film F is in substantially a straight line from roller 29' to the locking rollers 31 and 32. When the support 6 is moved the series of rollers 9 and 29 draw the film from its normal path into a longer path, the length of which is determined by the degree of movement of support 6, which in turn depends on the s eed of travel of the film and the time c apsing' before the leading end of the film is again rawn forward.

The operator may join the severed end E to a strip carried by a film reel 60, or thread it to a fresh reel or perform any necessary assembling, editing or other steps while support 6 is ascending. This takes place slow y ecause of the plurality of loops. When the locking rollers 31 and 32 are released (by handle 16 being first manually started and then raising under the impulse of spring 17) the operator may manually pull the film band forward, such movement, if greater than the feed in speed of film F, lowering support 6.

A lurality of reels 60 may be mounted on standiird 61 and may be separately driven by friction pulleys 62 from a power driven spindle 63, rotated through a power driven pulley 64, the speed of such bein preferal suflicient to draw the film ban from the ta e-up faster than it is fed on so as to -it is to be understood that the gradually return support 6 to its position. The structure of the film win reel mechanism may be of any of the w known types.

When support 6 has been drawn until rollers 9 contact with the film in its full line position, Fig. 1, the slightly further movement necessary to latch support 6 is given by the operator through foot treadle 22.

A brief review of the operation of my take-up mechanism is as follows: the film F is running through the machine and the parts are in the position shown in Fig. 1. When the end of a scene or some other divisional point is reached, the operator moves handle 16 downwardly locking the film rollers 31 and 32 and releasing support 6 which then, under the impulse of weight 21, gradually rises as the film is fed in and draws the film into a plurality of loops. This movement continues while the operator threads the film end into a fresh reel 60 which may be placed on a spindle 63 so as to be rotated thereby to wind up the film; and as the winding is more rapid than the film feed, the support is lowered and may be latched in its inoperative position by a slight movement of the foot 'treadle 22 after the film loops have been all taken up, this movement snapp' the flat 19 of arm 6 into engagement with latch 18.

As can be readily seen this take-up requires practically no attention, its operation being automatic except for the final latching movement, and the mechanism remains out of contact with the film band, except when actually in use. This take-up mechanism may be applied to any mechanism handli strip material easily marred by contact, 135

resent embodiment is by way of illustration only. I contemplate as within the see of my invention all such forms, m tions or equivalents as may fall within the terms of the appended claims.

Having thus described my invention, what I claim as new and desire to secure by Letters Patent is:

1. In apparatus of the class described, means for feeding a band of material, means for withdrawing the band of material, means normally inoperative and out of contact with the band and .adapted to engage the band and form loops therein, and means for holding the band adjacent the point of withdrawal, the loop forming means being automatically rendered operative by the operation of the holding means.

2. In apparatus of the class described, means for feeding and directing a band in a path, a series of rollers normally impelled toward said band but restrained from contact with the band and means simultaneously operative to clamp the band at one point in its path and to release said rollers whereby they may contact with the band an form loops thereln.

3. In a machine'for handlin lengths of film band, the combination 0 means for guiding the film hand through a ath, of a plurality of sets ofstaggered ro ers out of contact with said film when lying in its path, and means for moving one of the set of staggered rollers for looping the film about the pluralit of rollers thereby moving the film band rom its normal path.

4. In a film handling machine, the combination with a continuous film feeding mechanism, of a film take-up mechanism including a guide roller adapted to guide a film band throu h a path, a plurality of relatively fixed am? movable rollers mounted outside of the film path, means for moving the movable rollers whereby the film will be looped about the rollers outside of the film path.

5. In a film handling machine, means for normally guiding a band in a path through said machine, two sets of rollers normally out of contact with the band, one set lying upon each side of said path, and the rollers of one set being movable across the path into contact with the band and then between the rolleirs of the other set to form loops in the ban 6. In a film handling machine, the combination with a continuously operative film feed, of main guide rollers for supporting the film band in a path, a plurality of supplementary fixed rollers located outside of the film path, and a plurality of movable rollers adapted to cooperate with the supplementary fixed rollers, being adapted to draw the film from its path into a plurality of loops about the supplementary fixed and movable rollers.

7. In a film handling machine, the combination with a continuously operative film feed, of main guide rolls for supporting the film band in a path, a plurality of sup plementary fixed rollers located outside of the filmipath, and a lurality of rollers adapted to cooperate with the supplementary rollers and mounted on a support, means for moving the roller support, whereby a plurality of rollers normally out of contact with the film band are brought into contact therewith, thus drawing out a plurality of loops which may take up slack in the film.

8. In a take-up device for film handling machines, the combination with guidin members over which a continuously mov film may be moved in a predetermined path, a plurality of film rollers normally out of contact with the fihn, a' fixed support for alternate rollers a movable support for the remaining rollers comprising a pivoted arm, means for tending to move the pivoted arm in one direction, and releasable means for resisting such movement, the movement of said arm causing alternate, rollers to draw the film from its normal path into a plurality of loops.

9. In a take-up device for film handling machines, the combination with guiding members over Which a continuously moved fihn may be moved in a predetermined path a plurality of film rollers normally out of contact with the film, a fixed support for alternate rollers, a movable support for the remaining rollers, comprising a pivoted arm, means for tending to move the pivoted arm in one direction, and releasable means for resisting such movement, a film locking mechanism adapted to hold a portion of the film band ina fixed position, said film lockin mechanism being operable through the said-releasable means, means whereby the movable support may draw film from its normal path when released through actuation of the releasing mechanism as the film locking mechanism functions.

Signed at Rochester, New York, this 18th day of November, 1924.

'JOHNG. JONES. 

